Martensitic stainless steels are broadly used in industrial applications where demands for higher strength, hardness and wear resistance are high. Tempering treatment plays a crucial role on performance of such steels. The present work is focusing on the effect of tempering on carbide precipitations and properties of AISI 410 SS. Samples were austenitized at 980 °C for 30 min and tempered over the range of 300 - 732 °C. During tempering the carbides precipitated in the form of M23C6 and Fe2C in varying amount. During tempering at 300 °C, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increased to 1100 MPa from 741 MPa (as-received). Tempering in the range of 500 - 550 °C yields segregation of carbides at the grain boundaries and overall matrix. UTS was found to be reduced gradually from 944 MPa to 641 MPa when tempering temperature increased from 550 to 732 °C attributed to the coarsening and spheroidization of carbides. The optimized tempering condition was found out to be 550 °C for enhanced strength-ductility ratio, i.e. UTS 944 MPa with fracture strain of about 11 % and hardening effect (515 Hv). © 2017 TANGER Ltd., Ostrava.